


Treasure

by cestlavieminako



Category: Kamen Rider Zero-One
Genre: Gen, Post-Series, kinda poking at pre-series stuff gently with a stick from an acceptable distance, pre-Daybreak stuff, so I'm going with before Daybreak, we never really found out when Jin was created, we're missing so much lore and I do not have the time to write it all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27764995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cestlavieminako/pseuds/cestlavieminako
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Another Toku Holiday Special (2020)





	Treasure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bobcatmoran](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobcatmoran/gifts).



Several months had passed, and Jin could safely say that he hadn’t seen Horobi look as relaxed in…well, years. Not since Jin had been brand new. Back before Daybreak, before the Ark’s tendrils had sunk so deeply into Horobi, that Jin had all but lost hope in ever freeing his father.

_Father_. Even addressing him so familiarly was taking some getting used to. It wasn’t as though Jin _had_ to—usually, he simply addressed Horobi by his name, as he always had—but ever since that first time, when he’d grinned and called him “tou-san” and Horobi had tried to hide how embarrassed and pleased he’d felt, Jin couldn’t help but call him by that very human endearment. Another thing he hadn’t done since the Ark had wormed its way into their lives.

His hand rested over his jacket pocket, feeling the slight weight of the USB drive Yua had handed him once things had settled.

_”I’m not sure what it is…I found it buried under layers of programming when I was rebuilding you. It’s clearly not anything that was needed at the time, but I thought you might still like to decipher it on your own."_

At the time, Jin couldn’t help but wonder if it had been some sort of failsafe that the Ark had planted in him, something to forcibly shut him down—perhaps permanently—if he didn’t follow orders. But there had been an inherent…sliminess, for lack of a better word, to the Ark’s programming. He’d run hesitant scans on the drive, and the coding felt familiar. Safe.

One night while Horobi was in sleep mode, his battery charging, Jin withdrew the drive from his pocket. Perhaps it was risky, doing this while Horobi wasn’t awake—if something went wrong, that meant precious hours before Horobi would be back online to help him—and yet, Jin didn’t want to let Horobi know about the drive’s existence. What if he didn’t let Jin find out what was on it? It could be important! It was something that had been buried deep inside Jin’s programming, and as foolish as it sounded, Jin had an odd feeling that it was something akin to buried treasure. Surely whatever it was, it was important.

So he took a deep breath, then plugged it into the hidden port he used for charging.

Whatever it was, it certainly _was_ well-protected. And yet, as Jin watched, the decryptions all melted away as they detected his presence. 

What appeared to be a video monitor appeared, and Jin couldn’t help the startled gasp that left his lips as he saw Horobi appear onscreen, his hair hanging limply, sparks still shooting from the area where his headset had rested until that day.

Horobi had created Jin without the standard Humagear headset, and Jin had noticed how just about every Humagear they’d passed on the street had the sleek newer model headset. There were still a few older model Humagears here and there that had the bulkier headset like Horobi's, but they were fewer and farther between. Jin had asked Horobi why he didn’t have one, too, and Horobi had said that Jin was special. Perhaps one day, Horobi had said, no Humagear would have a headset, and they would be more equal to their human brethren. Jin hadn’t really understood the answer, but he’d nodded anyway. His shaggy hair hid the areas on his head where a Humagear headset normally would have been, and the humans apparently thought he was just one of them.

Jin still vaguely recalled the moment that Horobi had returned that fateful day. Jin had still been somewhat new to the world, only online and operational for perhaps a few weeks at most, but he had known something was wrong. Horobi usually moved so gracefully and fluidly, but that day, his movements had been stiff and jerky. Once Jin had looked past that, his eyes had gone wide when he noticed the absence of the headset that had always sat very prominently on Horobi’s head. Perhaps Humagears didn’t feel pain exactly as humans did, but Jin had fallen several times in those very first few days, sometimes badly enough that he’d torn up small bits of his synthetic skin, and Horobi had had to replace it. The falls had been unpleasant, messing up his skin had been upsetting, and the repair work Horobi had performed had felt weird. Jin had supposed that was what pain was like. But anything he’d felt surely paled in comparison to what Horobi had been feeling at that moment. The expression on his face looked as though he were seconds away from screaming in agony, and the sparks that shot from his head only seemed to emphasize the fact.

Jin had jumped up, bordering on panic, not knowing what to do, but Horobi had been quick to reassure him that everything was going to be fine, and he’d steered Jin over to where he normally sat while he was charging. Jin’s protests had died before they could leave his lips, as Horobi put him in sleep mode.

Jin remembered all of this, these unpleasant memories having been buried deep down, but now he saw what had followed, as Horobi continued on to his small workstation, pulling up a program and taking several deep breaths that he didn’t truly need, before he seemed steady enough to speak.

“I don’t know when—or even _if_ —you’ll ever find this recording, Jin. I’m sorry…I’ve failed you as a father. I thought I could protect you, but I couldn’t even protect myself. I should have known that the humans wouldn’t take kindly to a Humagear building another Humagear. It doesn’t matter that you’re the kindest, sweetest, most gentle child I’ve ever cared for. I’ve committed an awful sin in their eyes, and I know we won’t be safe for much longer.” Horobi paused, more sparks flying from the gaping holes on his head. “I hope one day, you’ll be able to forgive me for what I’m about to do. I only want you to be safe, and to grow up happily. You’re my precious son, Jin, and I love you.”

Seconds before the transmission ended, Jin saw Azu appear behind Horobi, and he sucked in a sharp breath as the screen went dark, and he heard her say, “Stop acting like a human.”

Jin’s eyes flew open, and he found himself back on the roof. Horobi stood nearby, most likely having said Jin’s name several times with no response, if the look on his face meant anything.

It was all Jin could do to not launch himself into Horobi’s arms, as he’d remembered doing when he was just days old, not understanding that he was taller than Horobi, and they’d fallen to the ground in a heap on more than one occasion, Horobi chuckling at his son’s enthusiasm.

Jin _did_ , however, get to his feet and go to Horobi’s side, before wrapping his arms around his father and hugging him for all he was worth.

A whoosh of simulated breath, followed by a startled chuckle, left Horobi’s lips, but he made no move to escape Jin’s embrace.


End file.
